Grace

I just wanted to talk about grace for a second because God's been teaching me a lot about it. Not grace for me, but grace for others. For us in the church, I think we understand grace when it applies to us but not to others.

Grace is God's love for you. It's why Jesus died for us. It's forgiveness when you've messed up. It's also when you save up your money for 5 years to buy a car and someone gives your neighbor a Lexus for free. Matthew 20:1-16 - the Parable of the Vineyard Workers:

1 "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who owned land. He went out early in the morning to hire people to work in his vineyard. 2 He agreed to give them the usual pay for a day's work. Then he sent them into his vineyard.

 3 "About nine o'clock in the morning he went out again. He saw others standing in the market place doing nothing. 4 He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard. I'll pay you what is right.' 5 So they went.

   "He went out again about noon and at three o'clock and did the same thing. 6 About five o'clock he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?'

 7 " 'Because no one has hired us,' they answered.

   "He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.'

 8 "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard spoke to the person who was in charge of the workers. He said, 'Call the workers and give them their pay. Begin with the last ones I hired. Then go on to the first ones.'

 9 "The workers who were hired about five o'clock came. Each received the usual day's pay. 10 So when those who were hired first came, they expected to receive more. But each of them also received the usual day's pay.

 11 "When they received it, they began to complain about the owner. 12 'These people who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said. 'You have paid them the same as us. We have done most of the work and have been in the hot sun all day.'

 13 "The owner answered one of them. 'Friend,' he said, 'I'm being fair to you. Didn't you agree to work for the usual day's pay? 14 Take your money and go. I want to give the ones I hired last the same pay I gave you. 15 Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Do you feel cheated because I gave so freely to the others?'

 16 "So those who are last will be first. And those who are first will be last."

I think this is one of the best places in the Bible to look to understand grace, because it's talking about grace for others. If Eminem, your gay hairdresser, a child rapist, or an islamic terrorist accepts Jesus as their savior right before they die, they will be your neighbors in heaven. They may even get the same reward you do, according to the parable! Think about it - a missionary who gives their entire life to Jesus could get the exact same reward as Hitler if Hitler turned from his ways.  That's Grace! Ugly, revolting, raw grace, at least as far as our flesh is concerned!

When faced with this grace, I think most of us would react like Jonah or the son who was loyal to his father when the prodigal son returns, "It's not fair!" And just like Jonah, we won't be able to be the workers God wants us to be unless we understand that grace.

I think it was the same with the Pharisees. They were just fine with sitting back and judging sinners, and were disgusted with the fact that Jesus chose to make his best friends out of tax collectors, sinners, and petty fishermen. I think most of us are afraid to admit how much Pharisee we have in us. When was the last time you actively sought to spend time with a beggar? When was the last time you reached out in compassion to the person at work that everyone else hates? Grace is a crazy thing. It can even touch the lives of Pharisees.

It's the same thing here, for us. Beaten, broken kids are easy to reach out to. Not so much with the person who just charged you double for a ride because you're white, the person who just hit on your wife, or the person who just stole money from you. But if it were easy, we wouldn't need God's love to do it. Please be praying for us that we can even reach out to the people who we don't want to help, and that we can extend grace to the people don't think deserve it. God Bless! And feel free to add your own comments etc about grace!